Alvarez Kicks Off Bellator’s May Slate

Eddie
Alvarez, one of the world’s elite 155-pound gladiators, will
toe the line against upstart Eric
Reynolds in the Bellator Fighting Championships lightweight
tournament semi-finals at BFC 4 on Friday at the Hara Arena in
Dayton, Ohio.

Favored from the outset, Alvarez (16-2) bounced back from his
submission loss to Shinya Aoki
on New Year’s Eve and submitted Greg
Loughran with a guillotine choke in the opening round of the
Bellator draw last month. The charismatic 24-year-old has secured
14 of his 16 career wins by knockout, technical knockout or
submission. Based out of the Fight Factory in Philadelphia, Pa.,
Alvarez holds stoppage victories against UFC veterans Aaron Riley
and Derrick
Noble and won two “Fight of the Year” candidates in 2008 -- the
first against Joachim
Hansen at Dream 3, the second against Tatsuya
Kawajiri at Dream 5.

Reynolds (10-1), meanwhile, leveled TKO and Ultimate Warrior
Challenge veteran Thomas
Schulte with a first-round head kick and subsequent punches to
secure his spot in the semi-finals. The Floridian has never
experienced a second round in 11 professional bouts, having
finished five of his 10 wins inside the first two minutes.
Reynolds, who turned 23 in March, trains out of Champions MMA and
David
Vieira Jiu-Jitsu in Tampa, Fla.

In the other semi-final, American Top Team stalwart Jorge
Masvidal will carry a three-fight winning streak into his
showdown with Toby Imada.

Masvidal (17-3) stopped UFC veteran Nick Agallar
with first-round punches in April to advance in the draw. The
talented 24-year-old has won 11 of his last 12 bouts and was the
first man to defeat popular UFC lightweight prospect Joe Lauzon.
Masvidal also counts victories against Steve
Berger, Yves Edwards
and former International Fight League lightweight champion Ryan Schultz
among his 17 conquests.

An 11-year mainstay in MMA, Imada has tested himself against some
of the sport’s finest competitors, including former EliteXC
welterweight king Jake Shields,
one-time Icon Sport middleweight titleholder Jason “Mayhem”
Miller, Hermes
Franca and Joe
Stevenson. The 29-year-old Californian submitted Alonzo
Martinez with a first-round rear-naked choke to clinch his spot
in the semis. Imada has rattled off seven consecutive wins.

Bellator’s busy slate does not end there.

The featherweight tournament semi-finals will play host to matchups
pairing the fast-rising Wilson Reis
with Joe
Soto and Yahir Reyes
with Estevan
Payan at BFC 5 on May 8 at the Central Pavilion Arena in
Robstown, Texas. Most see the undefeated Reis (7-0), a 24-year-old
Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, as a prohibitive favorite.

The welterweight draw takes center stage at BFC 6 on May 15 at the
Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, as former UFC middleweight champion
Dave
Menne meets Omar de la
Cruz in one semi-final and Lyman Good
locks horns with Jorge Ortiz
in the other.

Menne (43-15-2) has posted consecutive wins since losing to
Josh
Koscheck and Luigi
Fioravanti inside the UFC’s Octagon. An IFL and Ring of Combat
veteran, the unbeaten Good (8-0) choked Hector
Urbina unconscious in his Bellator debut on April 10.